Ricky Jay

While Ricky Jay has long been considered one of the world’s great sleight of hand artists, his career is further distinguished by the remarkable variety of his accomplishments as an author, actor, historian, and consultant. His one man shows Ricky Jay & His 52 Assistants; Ricky Jay On the Stem; and Ricky Jay A Rogue’s Gallery all directed by David Mamet, enjoyed critically acclaimed and commercially successful theatrical runs in cities around the world. As an actor Mr. Jay has been seen in David Mamet's films House of Games, Homicide, Things Change, Spanish Prisoner, State and Main, Heist and Redbelt. He has appeared in many other films including Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Last Days, The Prestige, The Great Buck Howard and the James Bond film, Tomorrow Never Dies. He has written and hosted his own specials for CBS, HBO, A&E, and the BBC, and has appeared on the series X-Files, Kidnapped, Deadwood, The Unit, and Flash Forward. His consulting company, Deceptive Practices, has supplied “Arcane Knowledge on a Need to Know Basis” for more than a score of films including The Prestige, The Illusionist, Forrest Gump, and Oceans 13. His Grammy Nominated boxed set, Ricky Jay Plays Poker, an album of classic and esoteric gambling tunes and a DVD of his of sleight of hand performance, is available from Sony BMG. Ricky Jay has defined the terms of his art for the Encyclopedia Britannica and the Cambridge Guide to American Theater. He is the author of many books including Learned Pigs & Fireproof Women, Jay’s Journal of Anomalies (both New York Times “Notable Books of the Year”) Dice Deception Fate & Rotten Luck(with Rosamnd Purcell and Extraordinary Exhibitions. He is a contributing author of the monumental new Taschen visual history Magic, 1400s--1950.